First robot-staffed hotel set to open in Japan this summer

The Henn-Ha Hotel is pushing a bit of the future into its new hotel opening this summer in Nagasaki, Japan, swapping human staff for Actual humanoid robots.

Robots have been integrated into commercial businesses over 2014, but this is the first time a hotel will rely predominantly on robots to control the day-to-day workings.

"We will make the most efficient hotel in the world," said Hideo Sawada, president of Huis Ten Bosch, according to the Japan Times. "In the future, we'd like to have more than 90 per cent of hotel services operated by robots."

The robots will be able to breathe, blink and maintain eye contact, but it is still quite obvious if one of the staff is a robot and one is a human. Human staff will still be available for those that find the robots uncomfortable.

Robots will be able to welcome guests, escort them to room and clean rooms, but in the near future Henn-Ha could employ the robots to do more tasks around the hotel. The robots are also capable of speaking in Japanese, Chinese, Korean and English.

The robots are not the only technical "evolutions" happening at the Henn-Ha Hotel, guests will also use facial recognition to gain entry to their rooms and room service will be ordered through a room tablet, instead of through the phone.

Average room prices will range from ¥7,000 (£39) to ¥14,000 (£77) and the hotel will be based in the city centre of Nagasaki.

The culture in Japan surrounding robots is crazy compared to the U.S. and Europe, where the closest we get to robots is a hoover roomba.

Panasonic, Hyundai and other manufacturers are working on thousands robots for home and the workplace, many of which could arrivein the next five years.